U-boat Commands

Alfred Eick began his naval career in April 1937. Later he served for more than a year on
the destroyer Hermann Beitzen, and he undertook 16 patrols in the first year of the war.
In November 1940 he transferred to the U-boat force, where he accompanied U-176 on her first two patrols.

In May 1943 he became commander of U-510. After a successful patrol in Brazilian waters, U-510 left Lorient on her second patrol assigned as one of the Monsun boats. Eick operated for a few months in the Indian Ocean before heading back in January 1945 with a load of important goods (tin, quinine, etc.) on board. After being supplied with oil southeast of Madagascar by Krvkpt. Oesten's U-861 (who was short of fuel herself), U-510 ran out of fuel in the North Atlantic, but managed to reach the U-boat base at St. Nazaire in France at the end of April 1945 (at that time the base was still in German hands).

Alfred Eick was in French captivity from May 1945 to July 1947. He then studied business management at the University of Hamburg and worked later as a tax adviser.